It feels good to finally be writing this.
I've been working part-time behind the scenes at DEV for almost two years managing social accounts, hand...
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@heyitsjem so happy you finally made this post and we can start giving you credit for all the awesome work you've been doing behind-the-scenes over the YEARS you've been with us! We love having you on the team and can't believe how much you juggle between DEV and teaching and your thesis and beyond.
Thanks @jess 🙂
Whelp, that answers my rejection lol. No hard feelings.
Regardless, Congrats Jem! Can't wait to see your action on DEV :D
This role is different than than the Community Program Manager position! I will be working under that role, which, as far as I know, is still yet to be filled
Oh fascinating. I thought it's one Manager, but good to know you are part of it!
You're correct: just one manager. I am a part-time contractor who will be working under the Manager position. :)
Ohh I see what you mean. I got a bit confused lol. Regardless, I can't wait to see the upcoming TOP 7 from you and seeing my message to congratulate everyone!
Congratulations, Jem! 😊
It’s really nice to finally meet the person behind some of the work happening around DEV. I really liked what you said about the overlap between technical expertise and creative curiosity. I think that’s one of the things that makes this community so special.
I’ve personally had such a positive experience here, and I’m really grateful for how much DEV encourages people to share their work, learn from each other, and keep creating. It’s always nice to see good work being noticed and given a place in the community.
Wishing you all the best in the new role! I’m looking forward to seeing your Top 7 posts and everything you bring to the community. 😊
Thank you so much!
Congratulations, Jem! 👏🏻
Interesting to see the mix of your technical background with poetry as a hobby! I think it's a very healthy work-life balance 🙂
Thank you! Forever trying to find that balance 🥲
Eheheh, I totally get you 😅
Congratulations Jem.
Thank you!
Jem, "the overlap of technical expertise and creative curiosity" is exactly why I stuck around here too.
Congrats on the role — Top 7 duty sounds like a fun kind of chaos. Also cool to see the game/music/poetry mix in your bio not the usual dev intro
Thanks @dannwaneri 🙏
Now this is something I'd love to see some content on! My partner recently finished her graduate degree in Game Design and was looking at that experimental space between narrative, experience and play.
At some point I'll post an article on her work, but this kind of handcrafted thought provoking stuff is precisely what I want to read about rather than another "it's not that, it's this" AI article.
In The Dust (Experience)
Is that a game your partner made? I love it so far.
Yes it's one of her course projects!
I'll have to get writing!
I'd love to hear more about your partner's experiences also.
Having seen DEV from the moderation, support, social, and now curation side, have you noticed any qualities in posts that consistently make you stop and think, “this deserves more eyes,” that authors themselves might not realize matter?
Honestly, I simply love anything that shows personality and sincerity. We're not always concerned about a perfectly written post, but more so that it comes from a unique perspective and offers something genuinely new. Maybe that is obvious, but with the amount of AI-generated content these days, it's getting harder to come by.
That said, AI-generated does not necessarily mean "bad". I've enjoyed plenty of AI-assisted articles on DEV. However, an LLM, by definition, can't have a unique point of view.
That distinction makes a lot of sense to me. There’s a pretty big difference between using an LLM to help communicate something you actually observed or worked through, and asking one to supply the observation itself.
I think the interesting part is that “unique perspective” is probably becoming a stronger signal of good technical writing than polish is.
Hey Jem! Congrats on getting picked for the position! That already says a lot about you, and I’m sure you’ll absolutely crush it!
Oooh, welcome and official congratulations to you, @heyitsjem! ❤️✨
Congratulations @heyitsjem
thank you!
Hello, Jem :) Nice to see you here :)
🙂👋
Congrats on stepping into the coordinator role, Jem! Two things stood out to me in this post. First, teaching intro HTML/CSS and spending so much time thinking about how people encounter new ideas for the first time — that is exactly the perspective a Top 7 curator needs, because "how do I frame this so a newcomer actually sticks with it?" is the question most curation misses. Second, the kernelpryanic quote you anchored on — "I don't think all hand-written code is art, just as not every handmade object is. But I do think the category is emerging" — is the rare kind of framing that lets submissions rise above the usual tutorial slop, and it tells me a lot about what you'll champion. From my own experience running a newsletter, one thing that saved me: keep a running shortlist of posts as you notice them all week instead of picking everything on publish day. Your taste stays fresher week to week and you stop panic-scrolling the feed at the deadline. Welcome to the front lines — and yes, that music/games/poetry intersection is the content DEV needs more of.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback and for sharing your experience! I'm definitely on the site every day saving posts that I enjoy. Helping to curate top 7 is definitely one of my favorite parts of the role 🙂
Welcome @heyitsjem Teaching intro HTML/CSS while researching the overlap between games, media theory, and poetry is such a refreshing background to bring to community curation. Really looking forward to seeing how that perspective shapes the upcoming Top 7 and Challenge posts!
Hi Jem!
Hello! 👋
Congratulations! 😸👏
Congrats Jem, this is exciting news! Two years of behind the scenes work clearly built the foundation for this, and it shows in how thoughtfully you write about the community. Excited to see what you bring to Top 7 and the Challenge announcements going forward, and that line about code being both tool and art form really resonates. Wishing you the best balancing this with your graduate work and teaching, sounds like a rich mix of interests to draw from.
Welcome, Jem! It’s great to see someone who works across both the technical and creative sides of the community.
I really like your point about code being both a tool and an art form. I’ve been exploring that same intersection while working on CodeCan.net, especially around learning, building, and sharing ideas with other developers.
Looking forward to seeing the new Top 7 and Challenge posts. Good luck with the new role!
Congratulations. I'm still learning my way around the DEV community and making posts here and there, but I'm excited to get to know the community even more. Looking forward to seeing your posts.
Thank you and welcome :)
Congratulations @heyitsjem! Thank you for all of your hard work behind the scenes. Now we can thank you directly since you're now in front of them! 👍🏼
thank you ☺️🙏
Congrats Jem 🎉 love the take on code being an art form, excited to see what you bring to the community🙌
@heyitsjem Congrats Jem! Now that you're running Top 7, I guess I better start writing something worth stealing the spotlight for 😏 Fingers crossed my post sneaks in there one day!
The team and I are excited to read!
Your "The DEV Team" pin looks pretty! Congrats🎉
Thank you!
Congratss
Congratulations Jem
Well said 👏
thats super neat
Thanks Jem, for being a strong behind the scene hand in dev.to. This community helped me a lot in curving myself from a normal student to being a developer.
I'm so happy to hear that
Congratulations, Jem ！
thank you 🙏
Congratulations Jem🎉Really looking forward to the weekly Top 7 posts!
Thank you :)
Congratulations Jem!! ❤️
I like your background a lot. My father is a professor/engineer as well so immediately I have huge respect for you. Congrats for this job. Here's to more DEV progress!
🙏
Awesome buddy!
Congratulations, Jem 😀
Thank you!
Welcome, Jem! It’s great to see someone with both a technical and creative background taking on a bigger role in the DEV community. I really like your point about code being both a tool and an art form — that intersection is where a lot of interesting ideas come from.
Looking forward to seeing the upcoming Top 7 and Challenge posts! I’m also part of the developer community at Codecan.net, so it’s always great to discover platforms that encourage developers to share, learn, and build together.
Really exciting to see DEV continuing to grow its community programs! The intersection of technology and creativity is what makes the developer community so inspiring. Wishing you all the best in the new role, Jem!
For more developer resources and tech content, check out codecan.net.